Lafayette coaches decided at halftime of Wednesday night's game against Colgate to scrap much of its offensive playbook and drew up a few familiar plays.

Down by as many as 25 points in the first half, the Leopards found themselves tied with less than a minute left.

Jamie O'Hare then remembered a play from practice to get Lafayette the game-winning basket.

Inbounding the ball, O'Hare threw the ball off Colgate's Mariah Jones' backside, retrieved the ball and made the reverse layup with 23 seconds left in an improbable 58-56 victory at the Kirby Sports Center.

"I've done it before, but not to win a game," O'Hare admitted. "It was pretty risky, but I couldn't help myself."

Lafayette (11-9 overall, 4-5 Patriot League) had lost three games in a row and had more turnovers (10) than field goals (8) in a dreadful first half.

It showed no sign of snapping out of a woeful shooting stretch this month and wasn't any better defensively against the Raiders (3-17, 2-7), who ended their four-game losing streak last weekend with a rout of Loyola.

But the Leopards were a more aggressive, focused team in the last 20 minutes.

"We drew up some of our older plays and were able to execute them and did an awesome job."

A 7-0 spurt capped an Anna Ptasinski 3-pointer with 1 minute, 37 seconds left gave the Leopards their first lead (56-54) since two minutes into the game.

Colgate tied it with 54 seconds remaining on a Jones jumper, setting up O'Hare's heroics.

The junior guard recalled a practice drill with assistant coach Ross James doing the same thing to a Lafayette defender who turned her back.

"That was in the back of my mind," O'Hare said. "[Jones] wasn't looking at all, and I still hesitated for a second."

O'Hare scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the second half. Emily Homan finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots after a horrific opening 20 minutes.

Tied at 10, Colgate put together a 32-7 run to lead by 25 with one minute left in the first half. Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby's only basket of the game cut the deficit to 42-19 at the break.

So, Lafayette felt confident it could come back to win, right?

"Honestly, no," O'Hare admitted. "We were down so much. I was like, 'how is it even possible?'

"But everyone had a great attitude. We were able to stay calm, stay together and pull it out."

An 11-4 spurt to open the second half gave Lafayette some momentum.

Down 48-30, the Leopards scored 13 in a row to get within five on Linnel Macklin's 3-pointer with 7:47 left. The senior guard had missed her last 11 three-pointers spanning more than five games before that trey.

"[Homan] attracts so much attention," Nolan said. "Our offense runs through her, so when we can't get it to her, our offense is stagnant.

"I was happy that we were able to get penetration, get to the rim, draw defenders over and give her a couple of easy looks. That spread the floor [for our shooters]."

Still trailing by five points with less than four minutes left, Lafayette scored seven in a row to take a 56-54 lead on Ptasinski's trey. The freshman, who started her third consecutive game, had 11 points.

Jones' jumper with 54 seconds left tied it for Colgate, then, following a timeout, O'Hare's bold decision paid off.

Colgate's Randyll Butler missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to preserve the biggest comeback in Nolan's five seasons on College Hill.

"In grammar school, I remember a game like this," O'Hare said. "But this one is definitely a more special one."

Lafayette's biggest comeback under Nolan before Wednesday was 16 points in a 66-61 overtime win Feb. 16, 2013, at Bucknell.

Homan's double-double was her sixth this season, fourth in the last five games for Lafayette, which is bidding for its first winning season since 1997-98.